Alcoholism is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive alcohol intake, the inability to control alcohol intake and vulnerability to relapse after cessation. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is a crucial component of the extended amygdala circuitry that has been implicates in the long-lasting dysregulations of the brain stress and reward systems induced by drugs of abuse that are believed to play a motivational role in continued drug use. We have observed that alcohol acutely affected NMDA-EPSPs and GABAA-IPSP in the lateral BNST. We also observed a strong and protracted NMDA-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dorsal part of the lateral BNST, which receives dense projections from the central amygdala through the stria terminalis. Interestingly, such an LTP could not be induced in animals with a history of alcohol dependence. We now propose to extend these studies to define the role of specific BNST cell population and subregions in ethanol's actions. The present exploratory studies will lay the foundations for the systematic investigation of the role of the BNST in the malaladaptive neurochemical events that are believed to be behind the development of compulsive alcohol intake and vulnerability to relapse.